Nick Powell

Nicholas Edward Powell (born 23 March 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or as a striker for Stockport County.

He began his career at Crewe Alexandra, initially as a forward, making his debut at the age of 16.

He made his debut for Crewe on 19 August 2010, in a League Two game against Cheltenham Town, which ended in a 3–2 defeat at Whaddon Road.

At the age of 16 he came on as a second-half substitute for Clayton Donaldson, becoming the second youngest player ever to appear for Crewe.

After impressing for Crewe Alexandra during the 2011–12 season, including scoring in their 2–0 victory in the League Two play-off final, he moved to Manchester United in July 2012.

On 20 August 2011, after only being on the pitch for eight minutes, Powell was sent off for the first time in the 2–0 defeat to Shrewsbury Town, following a poor challenge on Terry Gornell.

Powell scored his first senior goal in a 3–1 away win at AFC Wimbledon on 15 October 2011.

In January 2012, Powell was awarded the Football League's Young Player of the Month Award for December.

He scored his first brace against Gillingham in a 4–3 win on 10 March 2012.

On 21 April 2012, he won every award at Crewe's end of season awards ceremony, becoming the first player to win all five, including Goal of the Season (for his 30-yard strike in the 4–3 win at Gillingham), Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year.

On 27 May 2012, Powell scored the most important goal of his career so far, a volley from outside the box into the top corner in the 2–0 victory over Cheltenham Town in the 2012 League Two play-off final at Wembley Stadium, to win promotion to League One.

Powell joined Manchester United from Crewe Alexandra on 2 July 2012 in a deal reported to be worth up to £6 million, depending on future success and appearances.

He was allocated the number 25 shirt that had been worn by Antonio Valencia, who took the number 7 shirt.

It is also the same shirt number that he had worn at Crewe.

Powell played his first match for United on 21 July 2012 coming on as a second-half substitute in a pre-season friendly against Ajax Cape Town in South Africa.

Four days later, he made his first start for Manchester United in a pre-season friendly match against Shanghai Shenhua.

He made his Premier League debut against Wigan Athletic in a 4–0 win on 15 September 2012, coming on as a substitute for Ryan Giggs in the 71st minute, and scoring his first goal for United in the 82nd minute after receiving a pass from Javier Hernández.

On 2 September 2013, Powell joined Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan, following in the footsteps of fellow Manchester United player Tom Cleverley who had been on loan at the club.

Powell then went on to score Wigan's first ever European goal, against NK Maribor on 3 October 2013, and later added the third goal in a 3–1 victory for his side.

Powell then increased his European tally to three with a right-footed equaliser in Wigan's home tie against Rubin Kazan.

On 15 December 2013, Powell scored an overhead kick in a 3–2 win over Bolton Wanderers.

On 14 January 2014, Powell scored twice against Milton Keynes Dons in the FA Cup, overcoming the 1–0 deficit to help Wigan win 3–1.

Powell was given the number 22 for the 2014–15 season.

He started the first game of the season in a League Cup match against Milton Keynes Dons which United lost 4–0.

He was later substituted for James Wilson.

On 2 September, he was loaned to newly promoted Premier League team Leicester City for the rest of the season, with Tom Lawrence also making the move but on a permanent basis.

On 1 November, Powell made his Leicester debut against West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League, coming on as a second-half substitute for Danny Drinkwater on 81 minutes in a 0–1 home defeat.

On 27 December, it was reported that Leicester City had opted to terminate Powell's loan early due to the player showing a lack of commitment to training.

On 23 November 2015, Powell made his first appearance in 2015, playing 55 minutes in an under-21 game against Norwich City, having been sidelined by serious hamstring problems for around nine months.

Powell was included in United's Champions League squad for their crucial group game against VfL Wolfsburg on 9 December 2015, due to a number of injuries.

He came on as a replacement for Juan Mata in this game which United went on to lose 3–2.

PSV knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League, defeating CSKA Moscow in the other Group B match.

He also came on as a second-half substitute in United's next game, a league defeat at Bournemouth, his first league appearance for United in over three years.

Unable to break into the Manchester United first team, however, he went on loan to Wigan Athletic, Leicester City and Hull City before being released in June 2016.

He re-joined Wigan Athletic in July 2016.

On transfer deadline day, 1 February 2016, Powell moved to Hull City on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season.

He made his debut on 20 February 2016 in the FA Cup fifth round match at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal that ended in a 0–0 draw.

He spent three seasons at the DW Stadium before joining Stoke City in June 2019.

He has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 levels.

Born in Crewe, Cheshire, Powell attended Sandbach School and started his career at home-town club Crewe Alexandra, joining their youth system as a five-year-old.